Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Sanitary napkins are a type of absorbent article worn by women in a pair of panties that is normally positioned between the wearer's legs, adjacent to the perineal area of the body. Sanitary napkins both with and without side flaps (or wings) are disclosed in the literature and are available in the marketplace.
Generally when sanitary napkins are provided with flaps, the flaps extend laterally from a central absorbent means and are intended to be folded around the edges of the wearer's panties in the crotch region. Commonly, the flaps are provided with an attachment means for either affixing the flaps to the underside of the wearer's panties or to the opposing flap. The flaps are generally effective for preventing exudates from soiling the edges of the wearer's panties.
Sanitary napkins having flaps of various types are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,992 entitled "Shaped Sanitary Napkin With Flaps", which issued Dec. 7, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,478, entitled "Shaped Sanitary Napkin With Flaps", which issued to Van Tilburg on Aug. 18, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,047, entitled "Sanitary Napkin Attachment Means", which issued to Mattingly on Aug. 26, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. B1 4,589,876, entitled "Sanitary Napkin", which issued to Van Tilburg, Certificate of Reexamination issued Apr. 27, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,343, entitled "Sanitary Napkin", which issued to McNair on Aug. 25, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,697, entitled "Disposable Sanitary Shield For Undergarments", which issued to Rickard on Aug. 20, 1968; and, U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,271, entitled "Sanitary Napkin", which issued to Clark on Apr. 2, 1957.
While sanitary napkins having flaps are commonly viewed as providing better protection against soiling as compared to sanitary napkins without flaps, some women find applying sanitary napkins having flaps to be inconvenient for various reasons. For instance, some women find it to be difficult to attach the flaps to the underside of the crotch of their panties. This can be due to factors such as the tendency for the adhesive fasteners on the flaps to stick to themselves or to other parts of the sanitary napkin. As a result, some women still prefer a sanitary napkin without flaps. In addition, some women who generally prefer a sanitary napkin with flaps, occasionally (such as during periods of light flow) prefer a sanitary napkin without flaps. Therefore, there is a need for a sanitary napkin which provides an alternative to sanitary napkins having conventional side flaps while still providing the protection of side flaps.
Several variations of sanitary napkins having conventional flaps that attempt to solve some, but not all of these problems are disclosed in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,701 issued to Mavinkurve discloses a sanitary napkin having elastic strands for providing a greater convex shape to the body-facing portion of the central absorbent and for enabling adhesive-free placement of the flaps of a winged napkin embodiment into a pair of panties. The sanitary napkin described in the Mavinkurve patent, however, still appears to require the user to manipulate the flaps (by first flipping the flaps upward and then placing the flaps in her panties and flipping the flaps back down) since the flaps appear to be pre-disposed to be in a downward folded condition. The Mavinkurve patent also requires that individual elastic strands be attached in a contracted condition to the central absorbent portion of the napkin and/or to its wings or flaps. The napkins described in the Mavinkurve patent can, therefore, be difficult and expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,918 issue to Seidy is directed to sanitary napkins having flaps with a "specially designed" resilient hinge means for disposing the flaps in an acute angular relation with the undergarment facing side of the absorbent element of the sanitary napkin. The resilient hinge, however, is described as one which tends to return to its original position after deformation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,154,715 and 5,221,275 issued to Van Iten are directed to absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, that have a "clasp means" for fastening the absorbent article to an adjacent undergarment. The clasp means of the Van Iten patents includes two relatively stiff portions (that are more rigid than the absorbent pad) which are joined together by a hinge which permits bending of one portion relative to the other portion. At least one of the portions has an arcuate portion that is designed to pivot on the hinge and "forcefully press" the undergarment towards the first member when the absorbent article is worn. Such a clasp may, thus, tend to forceably alter the configuration of the undergarment. Further, the stiffness of the clasp means may tend to make the absorbent article uncomfortable to wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,462 issued to Salerno discloses a sanitary napkin with longitudinally expandable flaps. The flaps are designed to fold over the exterior of the wearer's panty and then to expand to conform with the contour of the panties. The sanitary napkin described in the Salerno patent, however, appears to require conventional adhesive fasteners to retain the flaps in place on the underside of the wearer's panties.
Thus, a need exists for an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with an alternative to conventional flaps. In particular, a need exists for a sanitary napkin which provides the protection from soiling of conventional flaps and which can conveniently and efficiently solve the problems caused when attempting to attach conventional flaps to the underside of the wearer's panties.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is able to provide coverage to the wearer's panties to reduce side soiling (i.e., staining of the edges of the panty crotch) without the use of conventional flaps.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that automatically folds around the sides of the wearer's panties by the simple action of the wearer pulling up her panties.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is able to fold around the sides of the wearer's panties and stay without providing flaps having panty fasteners thereon, and without attaching separate elastic strands to the sanitary napkin.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.